Michael Dunlop’s record-breaking Isle of Man TT success will be celebrated with a series of events in his hometown of Ballymoney this month.

The 34-year-old won four races at the TT in June to set a record of 29 victories, surpassing the previous benchmark of 26 held by uncle Joey since 2000.

Dunlop won the opening Supersport race to equal Joey’s tally and went on to claim a record 27th victory in the first Supertwin race.

He added two more wins in the second Supersport and Supertwin races during a memorable week on the Isle of Man as he became the most successful TT rider in history.

placeholder image — Michael Dunlop won four races at the Isle of Man TT in June to become the most successful rider in the history of the event

Dunlop also set a new lap record for the Superbike TT at 135.970mph on the Hawk Racing Honda after he was cruelly denied victory when he had to stop at the top of Bray Hill to fasten the visor on his Arai helmet, which hadn’t been correctly fitted during his second pit stop.

Dunlop’s achievements were honoured during a special reception at Stormont in September hosted by Communities Minister Gordon Lyons.

Now, the road racing star’s history-making exploits will be celebrated in Ballymoney on Saturday, October 26, when Dunlop’s machines will be on display.

He will also ride his TT-winning bike under closed road conditions to a reception at Ballymoney Town Hall (5pm).

A fireworks display will be held afterwards and Dunlop will be joined by family, sponsors, friends and fans to mark the occasion, which is open to the public.

Dunlop will also have some special one-off merchandise available at the event.

In an interview with the News Letter at his Stormont reception, Dunlop said the recognition he had received following his TT success had been ‘fantastic’.

“In this job it’s hard to be recognised and it’s fantastic to be here,” he said. “It’s because of the TT and that’s the long and short of it, and the TT is just a fantastic event.

“When you look at it, Joey was 48 when he got his last three wins and that’s another 13 years of winning races.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever get to that point, but to get the record was the be all and end all because Joey was the biggest name ever in road racing to a degree and the greatest road racer of all time.

“To be in the same boat as Joey and break that record left me that I was the best TT rider of all time and that was always the goal that I wanted to achieve.

“The TT is at the stage now where it’s the biggest thing in road racing and you can see the amount of people who go there, so it’s fantastic and they’re doing a great job.

“My goal is to keep winning races now and I’m fortunate that I’ve been very successful at the TT.

“So I want to keep going and keep winning TTs and the job isn’t getting any easier, but I’m trying to push it to the next level.

“There’s always different goals and if there wasn’t something that you were aiming for then you wouldn’t be doing anything.

“We’ll try and add to those TT wins and keep the Dunlop name up there in the highest esteem possible, not only for my benefit, but for my dad, my brother and my uncle.”

Dunlop’s achievements were also celebrated at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex July, when he followed in the footsteps of Grand Prix legend Valentino Rossi after appearing on the balcony at Goodwood House to receive the acclaim of fans.